The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks

The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks

Yörük Işık is a ship spotter who logs all the boats that pass through the narrow Bosphorus Strait near his home in Istanbul, Turkey.

In October 2015, he noticed something unusual - Russian military trucks on a civilian ship bound for Syria.

The photos he took were the first evidence that Russia was supplying armed forces to support President Bashar al-Assad. It followed months of denial from Moscow that they were planning to engage militarily on the ground in Syria’s civil war.

Emily Wither speaks to Yörük about how his hobby became a news source.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Ship with Russian military trucks on. Credit: Yörük Işık)

Episoder(2000)

Marie Stopes: Birth Control Pioneer

Marie Stopes: Birth Control Pioneer

In March 1921, Marie Stopes opened Britain's first birth control clinic in London. The Mother's Clinic in Holloway offered advice to married mothers on how to avoid having any more children. Hear testimonies on the early days of birth control in Britain from the BBC archive. This programme was first broadcast in 2013.(Photo: Dr Marie Stopes, photographed in 1953. Credit: Baron/Getty Images)

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The Life and Thought of Hannah Arendt

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Hannah Arendt was one of the most influential political thinkers of the 20th-century. Born into a German-Jewish family, she fled Germany in 1933 as the Nazis consolidated their power, eventually reaching America, where she published her seminal works on totalitarianism and the human condition She is also remembered for her phrase, the banality of evil, to describe the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann at his trial in Jerusalem in 1961. Louise Hidalgo talks to Hannah Arendt's former assistant, Jerome Kohn, and listens through the archives to those who knew her.Picture: Hannah Arendt in 1966. (Credit: Fred Stein/DPA/PA)

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Deaf Rights Protest

Deaf Rights Protest

Students at deaf-only Gallaudet University in Washington DC shut-down the campus in protest when the board of trustees appointed a hearing President in March 1988. They barricaded the campus with buses, marched to the White House and made the front page of the New York Times. Claire Bowes has been speaking to Dr I King Jordan, who was eventually appointed the first ever deaf President in the University's long history.(Photo: Student protestors, courtesy of Gallaudet University)

6 Mar 201812min

World War One: Russia at War

World War One: Russia at War

Russia's disastrous war on the Eastern Front became a catalyst for revolution at home. In 1914, Russia went to war against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire. But Russia was unprepared for a conflict on such a scale. Millions were killed or wounded at the front. There were chronic shortages at home. Popular anger led to the fall of the Tsar and the start of the Russian revolution. Using archive recordings we tell the story of the war in the East. Photo: Russian soldiers flee through a village after a provocateur announced that the German cavalry had broken through circa 1916. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

2 Mar 201810min

China's Barefoot Doctors

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In March 1968, Chairman Mao officially launched a scheme to improve healthcare in rural China, by giving thousands of people basic medical training and sending them out to work in villages. They were known as the “barefoot doctors”.Gordon Liu is a Professor of Economics at Peking University. He tells Lucy Burns about his memories of working as a barefoot doctor.Picture: Gordon Liu

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On the 28th of February 1983 the final episode of the iconic US TV series M*A*S*H was broadcast. It was watched by a record 125 million viewers. Set during the Korean War. M*A*S*H centred on the lives of the doctors and nurses in an army medical unit. Farhana Haider has been hearing from one of the show's writers Karen Hall about the sitcom that presented a wry take on war.Photo Cast of M*A*S*H 1980 Karen Hall far right. Credit Karen Hall

28 Feb 201810min

The Killing of Olof Palme

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The Swedish Prime Minister was shot dead on a Stockholm street on February 28th 1986. But the investigation into his killing was never satisfactorily completed. Tim Mansel spoke to public prosecutor Solveig Riberdahl, and police investigator Hans Olvebro, about the case in 2012.Photo: Portrait of Olof Palme in Stockholm in the 1980s. (Credit:AFP/Getty Images)

27 Feb 20188min

The Angel of the North

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A huge steel sculpture, that has become an icon for the north-east of England, was completed in February 1998. Designed by artist Antony Gormley, the Angel of the North was initially met with so much opposition that it was almost never built. Louise Hidalgo has been speaking to arts curator Anna Pepperall who was involved in the plans to build the most ambitious piece of public art that Britain had ever seen.Photo: The Angel of the North (Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

26 Feb 20189min

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